The Journey Back

Its been just over 9 months since I was in a bad car accident. After that, I spent 8 weeks being unable to do any sort of physical activity. The weeks following the accident are still a blur. I shuffled through the days, the doctor's appointments, the car shopping, etc just going through the motions. Life plans I was making had to be put on hold, I put on weight, I was angry, and I ended up in bad emotional place. I put on a smile and continued with life because that is what you do...fake it. There have been times in my life when I have said "fake it til you make it" but really I was just faking it. When the doctors finally gave me the all clear to start running again, I was eager, excited, and scared. I was limited to how much, how often, and how far I could run. I started with a Couch to 5K program that would only allow me 30 sec of running at a time. And I really shouldn't have sprinted those 30 sec during those early runs...but it felt so incredible to be able to run again, I had to make the most of it.

The weeks have flown by. I decided to sign up for a training program to work on building back up my distance. And I knew that I wanted to target a late spring half marathon so I signed up for the Potomac River Running training program aimed at prepping runners for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. It is about 6 weeks before the half I plan to run so it felt like a good way to get back my distance confidence. It has gone better than I could have ever expected or intended! Before the accident I was a faithful long interval runner (3:1, 4:1, or 5:1) with a pretty steady 10:30-11:00 pace. In the last 7 weeks I have found myself being a straight runner with a consistent 11:00 pace! Turning over the planning to someone else freed up my brain to just focus on the running. Having my PR store family by my side hasn't hurt either. Several of us are struggling with our own journeys and being able to run with our store family has helped each of us!

Feeling like a stronger runner really got my brain in a good place. So I decided to start to work on more of my fitness. I downloaded a "transformation" plan developed by personal trainers specifically for members of my running club. It is focused on weight training with cardio mixed in. Of course, one of my primary goals in doing this was to drop the weight that found me following the accident. But I also have other plans. There is a bold distance goal on the far horizon (more later when I am ready to make it public) and this is one step in that process. As I wrote down my fitness log following my workout today I realized, I wish I had a record of how I felt after my early running workouts from the fall. And I suddenly felt a STRONG desire to document where I am and the twists and turns I take on my new journey. And so, I am back to the blog :)

Its been two weeks into my new plan. And I have been consistent. I joined the gym my boyfriend is a member of and have really enjoyed the opportunity for us to go to the gym together. We may be giving up couch time and date time, but the time we are spending working on ourselves is motivating to one another and, in the long run, will improve our health so maybe we can spend LOTS of years together :) Every day now there is some muscle(s) in my body that aches. And I have not felt this strong, determined, and powerful in years. Why oh why did I not remember how much I LOVE weight training!?!?!? Though, admittedly, this is the first time I have followed a program this structured and intense. There is NO better feeling than putting on a pair of pants that I had hung back in the closet two weeks ago because there were too tight to wear out of the house and being able to wear them confidently to work. I am only 2 weeks into a 12 week program, and I hope I will not be a quitter this time (it tends to be my MO). I am loving how I feel and I can't wait to see where this journey goes!!!!

Heart Pounding Inspiration

This evening I was perusing my February copy of Runner's World magazine and read a brief article about three heart transplant patients that got my own heart pounding with inspiration :) When I sat down to write this post I intended to post a link to the article but it isn't one that they are including in their online magazine so you will have to just settle for my summary. The article discussed three heart transplant patients who were on-again, off-again runners before their transplants but had never run a race after their transplants until they decided to run the Carlsbad Half marathon together. Their cardiologist even ran tests to determine how hard they could push themselves during the race AND he ran WITH them! The three men not only ran Carlsbad, but La Jolla and America's Finest City for the "Triple Crown" series. They talked about knowing the amazing thing their donors (and their families) had done and feeling the presence of their donor on every step of the course. These men had to be even more mindful in their training as heart transplant patients have a higher resting heartrate and have to be aware of their strain their heart can take more than those of us who are not heart recipients.

As I read this article, my own heart sped up a bit. Organ donation is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. A very close family member (whose permission was not secured ahead of this post to include their name) is a living donor....and my hero. When I hop on the treadmill on Saturday for my long run, every beat of my heart will be dedicated to all donors, their families and the people they saved. Words cannot describe how inspiring you are and how lucky I feel to be able to push myself as a runner to be better with every step.

Organ Donors of the World - This run's for you!

XOXO - Jenn